Recovery signs for orange roughy

Tasmanian marine scientists are encouraged by signs that the threatened orange roughy species is bouncing back from overfishing in the 1980s.

The first catch limit was introduced in 1992 and they became stricter, with the exception of a small fishery off Tasmania's south-east.

Since the commercial fishery closed in 2006, the CSIRO has been doing acoustic surveys of fish numbers between St Helens Hill and St Patrick's Head on the east coast.

Dr Rudy Kloser says results from July are still being analysed, but the previous survey showed a 7,000 tonne increase in four years.

"Of course we've got to sort of be monitoring over more years than just those two surveys to confirm exactly what the rate is, but it is a significant recovery which is quite a good sign," he said.

It is encouraging news for trawl fishermen who have been funding the research.

But the Australian Fisheries Management Authority's Nick Rayns says there are no plans just yet to reopen the fishery.

"The scientists are still working on some aspects of that so we certainly wouldn't be considering a targeted fishery until we were sure that the science, and the size of the stock, warranted that," he said.